So, I was born in Marin County, California. That’s where they keep oyster paradise Tomales Bay, for those of you keeping score at home. In my world oysters are delicious, awesome, sexy, celebratory—and pretty much never cooked. Yes, you’ll find an old-school seafood joint here and there that will Rockefeller those badboys for you, and I think I experienced a deep-fried one once way out in Inverness or something. But we tend to be raw, raw, raw when it comes to these bivalves. You could easily grow up here unaware that the oyster had any other applications.